Rehman Chishti MP (former adviser to Ms Bhutto) was delighted to host this annual lecture in parliament, which had key note speeches from: Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, Rt Hon Dominic Grieve MP (Attorney General) Gerald Howarth (Defence Minister), Sir Peter Tapsell (Father of the House) and High Commissioner of Pakistan Wajid Hasan. In attendance was Ms Bakhtwar Bhutto Zardari, The Ambassadors of Turkey and Tunisia to the United Kingdom, as well as many British parliamentarians.
She was always under siege; as she said, “we were in government but not in power”
Text of the speech to follow:
To the world she was an icon.
To me, she was my mother.
As we approach the third anniversary of that dark day, imbeded
in the history of Pakistan, when our greatest leader and our best
hope was ripped from our lives and our future, I am flooded
with emotions.
Although it is difficult for me to talk about, it is also important
that I talk about it, to help preserve her legacy, to help make her
dream a reality. Thus I am honoured to be with you today.
She accomplished so much, but I am most focused on what she
might have accomplished had she lived. Like John Kennedy’s
second term, like the music John Lennon never lived to write
and Beethoven’s missing Tenth Symphony we can never know
what might have been.
What we do know is that there are 86,000 more primary and
secondary schools in Pakistan because of Shaheed Benazir
Bhutto.
That villages all across my country, including the most rural
parts, are electrified and have potable water.
That under her government foreign investment in Pakistan
quadrupled; energy production doubled; exports boomed.
Under her government 100,000 female health workers fanned
out across the country, bringing health care, nutrition, pre and
postnatal care, to millions of the poorest citizens of my country.
It was under her government that women were admitted to the
nation’s courts;
that Pakistani women were allowed to participate in
international sports;
that women’s police departments were established to help
women who suffered from domestic violence,
and women’s banks were established to give microloans to
women to start small businesses.
It was under Shaheed Benazir Bhutto’s leadership that cell
phones, fiber optics, computers, BBC and CNN were introduced
to Pakistan and the Pakistani software industry blossomed.
And it was under her leadership, indeed on her very first day as
Prime Minister, that all political prisoners were freed, labour and
student unions legalized, and the press uncensored with even
governmental media open to her political opposition.
It was an amazing record of accomplishment, made even more
remarkable by the constraint of two short tenures, by constant
pressure from a hostile Establishment, military, and presidents
with the power to sack democratically elected governments.
She never had a majority. She was always under siege; as she
said, “we were in government but not in power.”
Yet she delivered more than any leader in Pakistan’s history.
And we can only dream of what might have been if she was
once again allowed to serve her people.
One thing I am certain of -- three-quarters of a billion Muslim
women all around the world would have felt empowered, would
have rejected limits on their opportunity to learn, to earn, to
grow and to lead.
Almost two billion Muslims around the world would have seen a
modern face of Islam belying the caricature of our great religion
in the West, and the demogogery of the jihadists within our own
ranks.
Modern, moderate, tolerant, pluralistic and above all democratic
Islam would have had not just a face, but a voice, a true leader
not afraid to challenge dictators, generals, jihadists or terrorists.
That is what we lost on December 27, 2007.
Let me conclude by reading my mothers’ last words in the
edition of her autobiography published just nine moths before
her death. Those words are my rallying cry, those words guide
me home to lead my party and to serve my people.
I will never give up on my mother’s Pakistan,
I will never give up on the woman who sacrificed herself so
Pakistan could be free.
Her dreams are now my dreams, that is my promise to you;
That is my promise to her.
My mother wrote,
“As I prepare to return to an uncertain future in Pakistan in
2007, I fully understand the stakes not only for myself, and
for my country, but the entire world. I do what I have to
do, and am determined to return to fulfill my pledge to the
people of Pakistan to stand by them in their democratic
aspirations.
“I take the risk for the children of Pakistan.
“It is not about personal power. It is about simple decency
and respect for the right of men and women to live in
security and dignity and in liberty. And now, in this new
age of danger, extremism and terror, it is about something
more.
“Democracy in Pakistan is not just important for Pakistanis,
it is important for the entire world. In this age of
exploitation and radical interpretation of my beloved
religion, we must always remember that democratic
governments do not empower, protect and harbour
terrorists.
“A democratic Pakistan, free from the yolk of military
dictatorship, would cease to be the Petri dish of the
pandemic of international terrorism.
“I know it sounds idealistic, and to some unrealistic, but
after all these years, I still maintain my faith that time,
justice and the forces of history are on the side of
democracy.
“Some people might not understand what drives me
forward into this uncharted and potentially dangerous
crossroads of my life.
“Too many people have sacrificed too much, too many
have died, and too many people see me as their remaining
hope for liberty, for me to stop fighting now.
“With my faith in God, I put my fate in the hands of my
people.”
Those were her words and now they are mine.
Thank you.